Klay Thompson Is ‘Pissed’ About Anonymous Warriors ‘Coward’ Quote

In a recent ESPN article on Draymond Green, ESPN writer Ethan Sherwood Strauss (I suddenly have the urge to waltz) quoted an anonymous Warriors executive as saying that, when Green was out of the lineup in the NBA finals, his teammates “played like a bunch of cowards.”

Actual quote:

Nobody replicates his set of contributions. As one team official puts it: “The guys might be frustrated by his antics, but they had an opportunity to prove themselves without him in Game 5 and they played like a bunch of [cowards].”

For the record, I’m not sure why “cowards” is in brackets. Did he use another word? Anyway, Klay Thompson is not amused. San Francisco Chronicle:

“That article pissed me off for this reason: If you’re going to call someone a coward, how are you not going to put your name to that quote?” Thompson said Friday. “Like, it’s easy to point at someone and call them a coward behind a shield. Why don’t you put your name to it, then you can call us cowards? That’s fine. You can tell us that. But to say that we play like cowards, and you’re not going to quote the guy who said it? That’s weak to me, man.

“That made me mad. We played our hearts out the whole playoffs, the whole season, then you call us cowards and not put your name on it? … Get out of here.”

He has a point. If you’re going to call people cowards, but hide behind the skirts of anonymity when you say it, well, do you not see the craven irony in that? That’s worthy of being noted in the article as well, but Ethan Sherwood Strauss didn’t. If nothing else, he needs to explain why “cowards” is in brackets.

Anyway, welcome to the 2016-17 NBA season. People have been taking shots at the Warriors since Kevin Durant joined the team, and sadly now that [apparently] includes his own front office. And the regular season hasn’t even started.